(a) This article provides for a pilot program for the
Counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San
Diego, Solano, and Yuba for construction projects in excess of one
million dollars ($1,000,000).
(b) The board of supervisors of a county shall let any contract
for a construction project pursuant to this article to the bidder
representing the best value or else reject all bids.
(c) The bidder may be selected on the basis of the best value to
the county. In order to implement this method of selection, the board
of supervisors shall adopt and publish procedures and required
criteria that ensure that all selections are conducted in a fair and
impartial manner. These procedures shall conform to Sections 20155.3
to 20155.6, inclusive, and shall be mandatory for a county that
chooses to participate in the pilot program.
(d) If the board of supervisors of a county deems it to be in the
best interest of the county, the board of supervisors, on the refusal
or failure of the successful bidder for a project to execute a
tendered contract, may award it to the bidder with the second lowest
best value score, as determined in accordance with subdivision (c) of
Section 20155.5. If the second bidder fails or refuses to execute
the contract, the board of supervisors may likewise award it to the
bidder with the third lowest best value score, as determined in
accordance with subdivision (c) of Section 20155.5.

As used in this article:
(a) "Best value" means a procurement process whereby the selected
bidder may be selected on the basis of objective criteria for
evaluating the qualifications of bidders with the resulting selection
representing the best combination of price and qualifications.
(b) "Best value contract" means a competitively bid contract
entered into pursuant to this article.
(c) "Best value contractor" means a properly licensed person,
firm, or corporation that submits a bid for, or is awarded, a best
value contract.
(d) "County" means any of the following counties:
(1) The County of Alameda.
(2) The County of Los Angeles.
(3) The County of Riverside.
(4) The County of San Bernardino.
(5) The County of San Diego.
(6) The County of Solano.
(7) The County of Yuba.
(e) "Demonstrated management competency" means the experience,
competency, capability, and capacity of the proposed management
staffing to complete projects of similar size, scope, or complexity.
(f) "Financial condition" means the financial resources needed to
perform the contract. The criteria used to evaluate a bidder's
financial condition shall include, at a minimum, capacity to obtain
all required payment bonds, performance bonds, and liability
insurance.
(g) "Labor compliance" means the ability to comply with, and past
performance with, contract and statutory requirements for the payment
of wages and qualifications of the workforce. The criteria used to
evaluate a bidder's labor compliance shall include, as a minimum, the
bidder's ability to comply with the apprenticeship requirements of
the California Apprenticeship Council and the Department of
Industrial Relations, its past conformance with those requirements,
and its past conformance with requirements to pay prevailing wages on
public works projects.
(h) "Qualifications" means the financial condition, relevant
experience, demonstrated management competency, labor compliance, and
safety record of the bidder, and, if required by the bidding
documents, some or all of the preceding qualifications as they
pertain to subcontractors proposed to be used by the bidder for
designated portions of the work. A county shall evaluate financial
condition, relevant experience, demonstrated management competency,
labor compliance, and safety record, using, to the extent possible,
quantifiable measurements.
(i) "Relevant experience" means the experience, competency,
capability, and capacity to complete projects of similar size, scope,
or complexity.
(j) "Safety record" means the prior history concerning the safe
performance of construction contracts. The criteria used to evaluate
a bidder's safety record shall include, at a minimum, its experience
modification rate for the most recent three-year period, and its
average total recordable injury or illness rate and average lost work
rate for the most recent three-year period.

As used in this article:
(a) "Apprenticeable occupation" means an occupation for which the
Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards had approved an
apprenticeship program pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
prior to January 1, 2014.
(b) "Skilled and trained workforce" means a workforce that meets
all of the following conditions:
(1) All the workers are either skilled journeypersons or
apprentices registered in an apprenticeship program approved by the
Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards.
(2) (A) As of January 1, 2016, at least 20 percent of the skilled
journeypersons employed to perform work on the contract or project by
the entity and each of its subcontractors at every tier are
graduates of an apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation
that was either approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
or located outside California and approved for federal purposes
pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations adopted by the United
States Secretary of Labor.
(B) As of January 1, 2017, at least 30 percent of the skilled
journeypersons employed to perform work on the contract or project by
the entity and each of its subcontractors at every tier are
graduates of an apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation
that was either approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
or located outside California and approved for federal purposes
pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations adopted by the United
States Secretary of Labor.
(C) As of January 1, 2018, at least 40 percent of the skilled
journeypersons employed to perform work on the contract or project by
the entity and each of its subcontractors at every tier are
graduates of an apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation
that was either approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
or located outside California and approved for federal purposes
pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations adopted by the United
States Secretary of Labor.
(D) As of January 1, 2019, at least 50 percent of the skilled
journeypersons employed to perform work on the contract or project by
the entity and each of its subcontractors at every tier are
graduates of an apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation
that was either approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
or located outside California and approved for federal purposes
pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations adopted by the United
States Secretary of Labor.
(E) As of January 1, 2020, at least 60 percent of the skilled
journeypersons employed to perform work on the contract or project by
the entity and each of its subcontractors at every tier are
graduates of an apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation
that was either approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3075 of the Labor Code
or located outside California and approved for federal purposes
pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations adopted by the United
States Secretary of Labor.
(F) For an apprenticeable occupation in which no apprenticeship
program had been approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards prior to January 1, 1995, up to one-half of
the graduation percentage requirements of subparagraphs (A) to (E),
inclusive, may be satisfied by skilled journeypersons who commenced
working in the apprenticeable occupation prior to the chief's
approval of an apprenticeship program for that occupation in the
county in which the project is located.
(c) "Skilled journeyperson" means a worker who either:
(1) Graduated from an apprenticeship program for the applicable
occupation that was approved by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards or located outside California and approved
for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship regulations
adopted by the United States Secretary of Labor.
(2) Has at least as many hours of on-the-job experience in the
applicable occupation as would be required to graduate from an
apprenticeship program for the applicable occupation that is approved
by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards.

A county shall proceed in accordance with the following
when awarding best value contracts under this article:
(a) The county shall not select a bidder on the basis of the best
value to a county unless, after evaluating at a public meeting the
alternative of awarding the contract on the basis of the lowest bid
price, the county makes a written finding that awarding the contract
on the basis of best value, for the specific project under
consideration, will accomplish one or more of the following
objectives: reducing project costs, expediting the completion of the
project, or providing features not achievable through awarding the
contract on the basis of the lowest bid price.
(b) The county shall prepare a solicitation for bids and give
notice pursuant to Section 20125. A county may identify specific
types of subcontractors that are required to be included in the bids.
A county shall comply with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 4100)
of Part 1 with regard to construction subcontractors identified in
the bid.
(c) The county shall establish a procedure to prequalify bidders
pursuant to Section 20101. The information required pursuant to this
section shall be verified under oath by the bidder in the manner in
which civil pleadings in civil actions are verified. Information
submitted by the bidder as part of the evaluation process shall not
be open to public inspection to the extent that information is exempt
from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code).
(d) Each solicitation for bids shall do all of the following:
(1) Invite prequalified bidders to submit sealed bids in the
manner prescribed by this article.
(2) Include a section identifying and describing the following:
(A) Criteria that the county will consider in evaluating bids.
(B) The methodology and rating or weighting system that will be
used by the county in evaluating bids.
(C) The relative importance or weight assigned to the criteria
identified in the request for bids.
(e) Final evaluation of the best value contractor shall be done in
a manner that prevents cost or price information from being revealed
to the committee evaluating the qualifications of the bidders prior
to completion and announcement of that committee's decision.

(a) A best value contractor shall not be prequalified or
shortlisted unless the contractor provides an enforceable commitment
to the county that the contractor and its subcontractors at every
tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on
the project or contract that falls within an apprenticeable
occupation in the building and construction trades.
(b) A contractor's commitment that a skilled and trained workforce
will be used to perform the project or contract may be established
by any of the following:
(1) The contractor's agreement with the county that the contractor
and its subcontractors at every tier will comply with the
requirements of this section and that the contractor will provide the
county with evidence, on a monthly basis while the project or
contract is being performed, that the contractor and its
subcontractors are complying with the requirements of this section.
(2) If the county has entered into a project labor agreement that
will bind all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the
project or contract, and that includes the requirements of this
section, the contractor's agreement that it will become a party to
that project labor agreement.
(3) Evidence that the contractor has entered into a project labor
agreement that includes the requirements of this section and that
will bind the contractor and all its subcontractors at every tier
performing the project or contract.

Selection of the best value contractor shall be made as
follows:
(a) (1) An evaluation committee appointed by the county shall
evaluate the qualifications of the bidders based solely upon the
criteria set forth in the solicitation documents, and shall assign a
qualifications score to each bid.
(2) A county shall establish written policies and procedures,
consistent with applicable law, to ensure that members of an
evaluation committee are free from conflicts of interest, if the
county has not already established applicable written policies and
procedures.
(b) A county shall not award a contract for a construction project
pursuant to this article if a solicitation for bids for that
construction project results in the submission of fewer than three
responsive bids to the county for evaluation.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d) of Section 20155, the
award of the contract shall be made to the bidder whose bid is
determined by a county, in writing, to be the best value to the
county. To determine the best value contractor, the county shall
divide each bidder's price by its qualifications score. The lowest
resulting cost per quality point will represent the best value bid.
(d) A county shall issue a written decision of its contract award.
(e) Upon issuance of a contract award, a county shall publicly
announce its award identifying the best value contractor to which the
award is made, the project, the project price, and the selected best
value contractor's score based on the evaluation criteria listed in
the request for bids. The notice of award shall be made public and
include the score of the selected best value contractor in relation
to all other responsive bidders and their respective prices. The
contract file shall include documentation sufficient to support the
decision to award.

(a) If a county elects to award a project pursuant to this
article, retention proceeds withheld by the county from the selected
best value contractor shall not exceed 5 percent if a performance
and payment bond, issued by an admitted surety insurer, is required
in the solicitation of bids.
(b) In a contract between the selected best value contractor and a
subcontractor, and in a contract between a subcontractor and any
subcontractor thereunder, the percentage of the retention proceeds
withheld shall not exceed the percentage specified in the contract
between the county and the selected best value contractor. If the
selected best value contractor provides written notice to a
subcontractor that, prior to or at the time the bid is requested, a
bond may be required and the subcontractor subsequently is unable or
refuses to furnish a bond to the selected best value contractor, then
the selected best value contractor may withhold retention proceeds
in excess of the percentage specified in the contract between the
county and the selected best value contractor from any payment made
by the selected best value contractor to the subcontractor.

(a) Before January 1, 2020, the board of supervisors of a
participating county shall submit a report to the appropriate policy
committees of the Legislature and the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee. The report shall include, but is not limited to, the
following information:
(1) A description of the projects awarded using the best value
procedures.
(2) The contract award amounts.
(3) The best value contractors awarded the projects.
(4) A description of any written protests concerning any aspect of
the solicitation, bid, or award of the best value contracts,
including the resolution of the protests.
(5) A description of the prequalification process.
(6) The criteria used to evaluate the bids, including the
weighting of the criteria and an assessment of the effectiveness of
the methodology.
(7) If a project awarded under this article has been completed, an
assessment of the project performance, to include a summary of any
delays or cost increases.
(b) A report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

Except as otherwise provided in this article, this article
is not intended to change in any manner any guideline, criteria,
procedure, or requirement of a county to let any contract for a
project to the lowest responsible bidder or else reject all bids.